Since these sceneries are handcrafted block by block, the workload is quite heavy, and it is difficult to compete alone.In a way you might say, that scene slightly compares to the demoscene of olds, but with a focus on organization of large scale construction and video editing.

Nein, nein, nein! Do not be so little! When I say answer it, I mean respond to it, to Them.

It's interesting to note that the people in that scene don't call themselves artists. They don't call themselves Minecraft Artists or Block Artists or Voxel Artists.

They call themselves Builders. just that. They see themselves more in common with architects.

The work of an architect, constructing buildings and cities, and even environment work such as public parks etc, has a lot to do with aesthetic design work, it needs a lot of imagination and creativity, but it clearly is heavily mixed with hard technical planning skills and organisisation of large construction teams, to make it work. A building or city or park needs to work. Just like a level of a game is not simply a painting -- it too needs to work, so there are all kinds of gameplay design and technical considerations that creatively mix into the final result. It is very creative on all levels of what needs to be considered.

To get just a little glimpse into the thought process of a Builder, we can look at one of the countless Minecraft tutorials, that show you how to effectively go about contructing a certain type of asset.

Here it is just a cute little viking house:

Here is what goes into the construction of a more complex building:

Having seen this, you might be able to appreciate better the work that goes into the top level scene crafts, with entire cities built.

Maybe have a look at what team AriaCreations does, with a more modern setting for a change.

Knowing how to plan and organize a skilled team of builders/architects is crucial for competing at the top level of this game.

The top teams of "amateurs" in Minecraft have reached a level of skill in scene design and construction that rivals what you would otherwise expect only from AAA developers in the games industry.

Nein, nein, nein! Do not be so little! When I say answer it, I mean respond to it, to Them.

While a great number of the ordinary Minecraft folks do live by these backwards default conditions,

you can also bet that with a creative scene this lively and sprawling, it wouldn't take long for someone to offer advanced editing services for Minecraft.

There is a large modding scene, and people are offering auxiliary tools to work with Minecraft content.

Two of these that I have come across are WorldEdit and VoxelSniper, aside various landscape generators.

Working with these advanced features feels a bit more natural as an artist. Suddenly you have functionality like hard copy of content, making lines and boxed areas in one go, and the ability to paint with bigger clumps or "brushes".

For examples of how that feels working with, look through the channel of GeminiTay:

Certainly looks more artsy in the overall approach. She still proudly calls herself Builder tho!

Nein, nein, nein! Do not be so little! When I say answer it, I mean respond to it, to Them.

Yeah, in large parts they're crazy like that. But also, it depends from server to server, project to project, contest to contest, and also what exactly it is they're working on,more wild terraforming or more concrete constructions, a lot of unique building in every detail, or more sweeping templates.

In other showcases you see the builders make do with much more subtle markings, a lot of TeamSpeak communication, and schematic material outside the game, for the sake of making the showcase videos more aesthetically pleasing. But experienced builders also have evolved great spatial awareness and are used to counting their steps for each next turn.

Nein, nein, nein! Do not be so little! When I say answer it, I mean respond to it, to Them.

And while we're at it, you really gotta check out this trailer for the mod Conquest Reforged resource pack for Minecraft, which gives it a much grittier look, and adds tons of new materials/textures/assets, etc.

It's almost as if WitcherWHO? ElderscrollsWHAT? DarkSoulsHAH. All u need is Minecraft. Minecraft is life.

Nein, nein, nein! Do not be so little! When I say answer it, I mean respond to it, to Them.